Episode 298: The Creative Questions Our Listeners Ask
Date October 2, 2013 Summary Ben and Sam answer listener emails about unusual outfield alignments, high schoolers versus big leaguers, modern starters used like Cy Young, and more. Topics * Using 'we' as a fan * Effects of pitcher overusage * MLB players as high school catchers * High schoolers vs. major leaguers * Outfield alignments Intro Pirates win Wild Card game broadcast sound clip Banter * Ben is still at Scout School and rates his internet speed as a "present 3, future 4" on the 20-80 scale. * Official Effectively Wild Scorekeeper John Choiniere writes in with updates about Ben & Sam's drafts. * Episode 242 follow-up: Sam wins the 'All-No-Bang-For-Your-Buck' contest. * Episode 281 follow-up: Ben currently leads the soft-tossing starters draft (Harry Pavlidis would win). * Episode 201 follow-up: Ben currently leads the 25 and under starters draft * Episode 280 follow-up: How many home runs will Jacoby Ellsbury hit in the next five years? Email Questions * Eric: paraphrases the question, which asks when a fan can use 'we' to describe their team? * Derek: "What would happen if a team decided to pitch a starter over a full season as much as someone like Cy Young did? We're talking about 45-50 starts, 400ish innings. How long would it take for that pitcher to get hurt? How quickly would we see effectiveness drop off and if you had to bet on one guy who do you think would be able to handle it? Roy Halladay in his prime seems like a decent candidate." * Derek: "Plug any player in the majors as high school catcher, would he automatically become the best defensive high school catcher in the country? This excludes any major league catchers or players who have had some experience at the position at the high school level or better. I'm thinking someone like Jason Giambi." * Derek: "How big a lead would you have to spot a typical high school team to get the final three outs of a game against an average major league team?" * Chris (Breezy Point, NY): "Would you rather have an outfield consisting of three terrible defensive outfielders or an outfield made up of only two gold glove caliber defenders?" * James: "In light of Zack Greinke narrowly missing out on the NL batting title and players like Chris Davis pitching two shutout innings last year, who would win in a one game playoff: the nine best hitting pitchers or the nine best pitching hitters? Assume a designated league average defense for both teams." Notes * Sam thinks it is fine to use 'We' when talking to other fans, but not when speaking to someone who doesn't share that fandom. * Sam's Episode 242 team accrued -8.14 WARP with a $209 million payroll. * Derek's final question is similar to one asked in Episode 294. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 298: The Creative Questions Our Listeners Ask * Ground Rules for the "Baseball We" by Dayn Perry * Effectively Wild Competitions Spreadsheet Category:Email Episodes Category:Episodes